Allama Iqbal Open University

Rubber is an industrial material valued worldwide for its remarkable elasticity and versatility. It has become an essential material among the several various sectors, contributing to technological progress and improving the quality of everyday life. In the twenty-first century, increasing global awareness over rubber pollution has highlighted the significant attention towards the ecological footprint and sustainability challenges associated with rubber materials. The manufacturing of rubber is known to produce effluents that are difficult to treat with existing technologies. These effluents are known to have a high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) alongside organic toxic pollutants. However, the new advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for treating such wastewater have shown promise alongside AOPs that produce high amounts of hydroxyl radicals. This paper analyzes other prominent techniques such as Fenton and photo-Fenton, photocatalysis, ozonation, and electrochemical oxidation, aimed at treating rubber industry effluents. These techniques are found to be highly effective against resistant pollutants and aid in increasing biodegradation efficiency. The Fenton processes, alongside AOP technologies, pose some operational challenges and are not advanced enough to have cost-effective and efficient solutions. The combination of AOPs with biological processes and other recent studies have been shown to be effective, but more research needs to be done on their economic viability. We have also emphasized the important role of hybrid synergistic systems and AI in improving the effectiveness of AOPs for achieving better waste management practices in the rubber industry. Classification of advanced oxidation process (AOPs) based on reactive mechanism

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of behavioral biases and social factors on financial satisfaction, with the mediating role of contrarian investment decisions. Additionally, we examined the moderating role of the need for cognition in the relationship between various behavioral biases and social factors to contrarian investment decisions. Design/methodology/approach The study employed a survey method to collect data at three different time waves from individual investors in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). Questionnaires were distributed among investors in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, and a reasonable sample of 387 responses was received. Findings The results indicated that behavioral biases and social factors had a significant negative impact on contrarian investment decisions. Contrarian investment decisions positively predicted financial satisfaction and mediated the effects of behavioral biases and social factors on financial satisfaction. Furthermore, need for cognition significantly and positively moderated the relationships between status quo bias and contrarian investment decisions, and between confirmation bias and contrarian investment decisions. Among the social factors, need for cognition significantly moderated the relationship between information cascade and contrarian investment decisions. Practical implications From a practical perspective, this study underscores the importance of investment training programs designed to enhance analytical thinking skills. Such programs should equip investors with the ability to critically evaluate market trends, enabling them to make informed investment decisions rather than relying on cognitive biases or succumbing to social pressure. Financial market policymakers and regulators are encouraged to design improved investor protection policies that promote critical thinking, data-driven strategies, and the reduction of speculative behaviors in financial markets. Originality/value This study complements the dual-process model of System 1 and System 2 thinking. It provides nuanced insights by examining a holistic model comprising various social, behavioral, and attitudinal factors.

In this study, BaSnO3 and Na-BaSnO3 perovskites were fabricated by using the Sol-gel method. The synthesized perovskites were used to photocatalytically degrade Ciprofloxacin (CF) under sunlight irradiation. EDX, FTIR, UV-vis, and XRD analysis was used to study the synthesized perovskites. The optical band gap calculated for BaSnO3 and Na-BaSnO3 using Tauc's equation and corresponds to a value of 3.3 and 2.9 eV, respectively. The PZC value of both doped and undoped perovskites was determined to be at pH 7. In the case of Na-BaSnO3, the average crystallite size increased from 0.93 to 7.87 nm. Several parameters, including pH effect, catalyst dose, and pollutant concentration at different temperatures (30, 40, 50 degrees C) values were studied to efficiently degrade CF. The result showed that the degradation percentage increased as the concentration of the antibiotic was increased to 5 ppm (18.7%) and was highest at 7 ppm (65.6%). At optimum concentration of 13 and 7 ppm and at photocatalyst dose of 20 and 10 mg for Na-BaSnO3 and BaSnO3, respectively, at Point of Zero charge (PZC) value of 7 and 50 degrees C was 71.6%. Conclusively, Na-BaSnO3 showed higher degradation of CF compared to BaSnO3 (57.9%).

This paper develops an extension of the research work by Proinov to the product spaces X-|I| (I is representing an indexing set). This paper also introduces a novel class of (L;Y)-contractions defined on a supremum metric (X-|I|,d '). In supremum metric (X-|I|,d '), several new fixed point theorems for (L;Y)-contractions have been established that generalize well-known ideas like the Banach, Geraghty, Boyd-Wong, and Wardowski principles. This paper also contributes a new iterated function system (IFS) built on the family of (L;Y)-contractions and demonstrates the existence and uniqueness of fractals (in other words, compact attractors) in a complete supremum metric (X-|I|,d '). Theoretical work is illustrated with examples and graphs.

Developing highly electroactive and stable electrocatalysts with selective adsorption of the intermediates is essential to enhance the electrochemical water splitting efficiency. Porphyrin-based covalent organic polymers (COPs) offer a promising platform due to their multidimensional frameworks, it-conjugated structure, tunable porosity, and intrinsic redox activity. These features endow them with excellent electrocatalytic activity as compared to their monomeric counterparts. This review compiles and analyzes the recent advancements in building porphyrin-based COPs and their composites for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Special emphasis is placed on incorporating different metals in the porphyrin and their linkage with a variety of organic ligands having electron-withdrawing moieties on them. The multiple dimensionalities and synergy between metals and it-conjugated systems contribute to the excellent electrocatalytic efficiency of porphyrin COPs for water electrolysis. The metalation of the porphyrin units provides the electroactive active sites contributing to efficient charge transfer kinetics of HER and OER, low resistances to charge transfer, low overpotentials, and high electrochemical surface area. This work gives a comprehensive analysis of the structure-activity relationship of porphyrin COPs and also describes a comparative analysis of the electrocatalytic activities of the porphyrin COPs in alkaline and acidic media. Finally, the current challenges and futuristic insights have been provided for designing porphyrin-based COPs to enhance their electrocatalytic performance for water splitting.